Commode



(NoModeL) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

' J. A. BELL.

GOMMODE.

No. 423,588. Patented Mar. 18, 1890.

(No Model.) 2Sheets-heet; 2.

J. A. BELL.

, GOMMODE. No. 423,588. Patented Mar.18, 189 0.

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I. 0 I I wmunlummummllu HlIlllllllllllllillllllilllll* UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. BELL, OF NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS.

COMMODE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,588, dated March 18, 1890.

Application filed September 30, 1889- $eria1N0. 325,502- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN A. BELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Naperville, inthe county of Du Page and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Commodes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in the class of commodes used as a household convenience, and as such serving not only to afford means for comfortable use of the vessel it is adapted to contain, but also, by being constructed to conceal its primary purpose, to afford the additional purpose of an article of furniture for usesuoh as an ottoman, footstool, or chair-or merely ornamental, as representing an article of furnt ture, or both for use and ornament. Such device is adapted to support the vessel commonly by suspending it at its flange from'the margin of the opening in a diaphragm provided for the purpose underneath the seat. In that case the vessel must be about of a certain size and of a shape adapting it to fit theopening to enable it to be supported in the manner described, and it is therefore common to provide a vessel of especial construction for the commode, thereby detracting from its convenience and tending to render it the more costly.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a construction of the commode which shall adaptit to receive and support any of the ordinary sizes and shapes of flanged vessels, thereby to render it the more convenient and useful by enabling any such vessel at hand in the household to be employed.

A further object of my invention is to improve especially upon the construction of commode involving a base supporting a vertically-adjustable seat section such as is shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States N 0. 401,629, granted me on the 16th day of April, 1889, the improvement consisting in forming the seat-section into a receptacle closed on all sides, (when the cover is down,) whereby after the commode has been used the seat-section may be sealed by lowering the cover and removed from the base to be carried from the room for emptying the vessel, thus preventing escape of effiuvia from the contents of the latter, and as a consecontagious disease that can be taken from such effluvia.

In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure 1 is a view in perspective of my improved commode, showing the upholstered cover and hinged seat raised to display the adjustable vessel-supporting lid, and also showing the adjustable seat-section raised in its supporting-base. Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2 2-of Fig. 3, and viewed in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 3, a section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2, and viewed in the direction of the arrows; and Fig. 4, a broken section taken on the line 4 of Fig. 3, and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

The device involves a hollow base A, supporting the vertically-adjustable seat-section B, and to that end may be provided on two opposite inner sides with vertically-disposed series of stops 0", one of which series should be provided on the respective side of thebase near each of its lateral edges.

The seat-section B is of box form to fit inside the base, it being preferred to have it fit inside rather than outside, for whichpurpose,- however, the construction of the parts might be suitably arranged so far as the application of my improvements is concerned, and may be provided vertically along two of its outer. sides near the edges to coincide with the stops 1' with guides 0, adapted to envelop the said stops. On each of the two opposite inner surfaces of the box involving the seat-sections B, I provide a compound lever 0, supported to extend preferably along the vertical center of such surface and terminating at its lower end, which extends just beyond the lower edge of the side of the box in a cross-rod p, the extremities of which coincide with the series of stops 4" on the adjacent surface of the base and are provided with lugs 19', projecting toward the stops to engage with them. The compound levers are controlled at their upper portions above the fulcrums thereof by springs 0, and rods When it is desired to adjust the seat-section B, the rods n are pressed inward by the hands of the operator, thereby actuating the compound levers to withdraw the lugs p from engagement with the supporting-stops r to free the seat-section, when it may be raised or lowered, according to the adjustment desired. The seat-section is surmounted by the seat D, which should be hinged, as shown, and by a cover 'E, which should also be hinged and upholstered on its outer side. The parts thus far described are similar to those set forth and illustrated in my aforesaid patent, and .are not therefore herein explained in such minuteness of detail as they might otherwise be, being merely described as above to enable the construction and operation of my improvements to be readily understood, which improvements, as hereinbefore stated, relate to the adjustable construction of the vessel-supporting lid and to the sealing of the adjustable seat-section, and may be used with commodes diiferently constructed as to details from the commode set forth in my said former patent. Thus my improved construction of vessel-support may be used to advantage with an ordinary commodechair, or chair provided with an opening in wish to be understood as so claiming it.

The bottom of the seat-section B,which may, but not necessarily, be rendered laterally narrower than the box proper by providing partitions Z, as shown in Fig. 2, is closed by providing it with a base is, whereby when the cover E is down there is no communication with the outer air from the interior of the seat-section,which may therefore be removed from the base A to be carried out, as and for the purpose hereinbefore mentioned in stating the object of this, part of my improvement. At opposite lateral sides of the open end of the seat-section and below the seat D, in desired proximity to the latter, I provide ledges '6, to sustain a vessel-supporting lid F,

formed, generally stated, in sections afiording an opening between them, and movable one with relation to the other, to enlarge or diminish the size of the opening according to the size of vessel to be supported by the lid.

The preferred construction in all its details, as illustrated mostclearly in Fig. 1, of the supporting-lid F is as follows: The vesselsupporting lid is formed in two sections h and h, each comprising an angular piece of any suitable material shaped to adapt it along its outer edges to fit upon the opposite ledges '11 and against three inner sides of the seat-section B, and having their opposing inner edges hollowed out, as shown at x, to afford an opening g, and also preferably, as shown at w, to

afford an opening for the handle of the vessel to be supported, and thus avoid impediment by the handle to the insertion of the vessel far enough to bring its rim or flange against be hinged to a'bearing d, as shown.

whereby it may be readily slid back and forth.

with relation to the section It toincrease or diminish the size of the opening g, and the movements of the adjustable section of the lid F are limited in the backward direction by the rear of the box and in the forward direction'by a clamp-screw f, confined in the elongated slot c of an arm e, extending from the back of the seat-section, where it should Thus when it is desired to enlarge or diminish the size of the opening 9 the-screw f is loosened, freeing the section It to permit it to be slid backward or forward, as required, the screw serving also, by tightening it when the adjustment has been effected, to fasten the section, and the hinge-support permits the section it to be raised the more readily to permit removal of a vessel bulging out at the bowl V portion belowthe flange. its seat, and in analogous connections, and I What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a commode, the combination of a base and a removable and adjustable seat-section B, having a cover E and closed at its sides and base, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a commode, the combination, with the seat portion, of a vessel-supporting lid F,

formed of a stationary section h' and an adjustable section 72, hinged to the seat portion and having limitedplay with relation to the section h on its hinge-connection, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a commode, the combination of a base .A, an adjustable seat-section B, having a seat ,D, and a sectional and;adjustable vessel-sup- ;porting lid F, supported below the seat D and comprising a stationary section It, a movable section h, provided with a clamp-screw fiand a slotted arm 6, embracing the screw f and hinged to the seat-section B, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4:- In a commode, the combination of a base 

